McKenna started against the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals on Tuesday night and allowed four goals on 25 shots in a 5-3 loss. He got the nod because interim coach Scott Gordon wanted to give top goaltending prospect Carter Hart a break after playing twice in three days.

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Jakub Vrana scored twice to set a career high in goals and added an assist to help the Washington Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 Tuesday night and hand their division rivals their eighth consecutive loss.

Capitals right wing Tom Wilson scores on Flyers goalie Mike McKenna in the first period Tuesday night. McKenna is Philadelphia's seventh goaltender of the season, tying an NHL record. Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

"He competes and he battles," Gordon said of McKenna. "When you play for as long as he has, that's something people appreciate, the fact that you bring it every day in practice and games."

McKenna fell to 1-5-1 this season, and his only victory came against the Flyers while playing for the Senators. He recognized his first game with Philadelphia wasn't his best.

"I'd be lying to you if I didn't say it was a little bit of a challenge just from a lot of different logistical standpoints, but my job is to play hockey and be a goaltender and stop the puck, and no matter what team I'm on I'm going to do that to the best of my ability," McKenna said. "At the end of the day, we're all trying to do the same thing and that's win hockey games regardless of who we're playing against. The NHL is a challenge no matter what. Every team has players that can do this, so you've got to bring your A-game."

Gordon, who replaced the fired Dave Hakstol behind Philadelphia's bench, was one of the Nordiques' seven goaltenders 29 years ago. He said this is different because Quebec was 9-34-6 at the time he was called up.

"The team at that point, there was a fire sale that was going to happen at the trade deadline," Gordon said. "They were out of the playoffs. Different situation. There were some major changes that were done at that point."

The Flyers have now lost eight in a row and are 30th in the 31-team NHL.